John Laws' breach of advertising laws costs 2UE $360,000

RADIO host John Laws' persistent flouting of the on-air advertising laws has cost his radio station $360,000, in a judgment by the Federal Court.

Laws had an agreement to tell Radio 2UE (owned by Fairfax Media) about any sponsorship agreement he entered into to advertise products on air in return for payment, but the court found he did not do that on 13 occasions.

The breaches related to sponsorship agreements with Qantas, Toyota, Hamilton Island, Roche and Oatley Family Wines - which each paid him upwards of $100,000 a year - and with Byron Bay Beer, which paid him between $10,000 and $100,000 a year.

Before the matter came to court, it had been agreed that Radio 2UE would pay the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) an agreed penalty of $10,000 per breach, totalling $130,000.

But the Communications Law Centre intervened in the case, arguing that a higher penalty should be imposed, and in a judgment handed down in the Federal Court today, Justice Steven Rares agreed, imposing penalties totalling $360,000